Earth Day: What it is, How it Started, and How You Can Celebrate This Year

Earth Day – this year and every year – is April 22.  How it came into existence is a shining example of grassroots democracy – millions of Americans, fed up with corporate negligence that resulted in widespread pollution of their water and air, made their voices heard and pressured the Nixon administration to make sweeping changes to American law.

The origin of Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, 22 million Americans, organized and inspired by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, participated in a series of “environmental teach-ins” to educate themselves about the real impact pollution was having on local waterways and air. It had no official name, no official organization, and no social media to communicate where and when.

At that time, the U.S. led the world in manufacturing – smokestacks that spewed all kinds of colors of smoke containing who-knows-what kinds of nasty particles covered the landscape, and local economies and jobs were dependent upon those factories. The thought of environmental regulations on industries that had no restrictions on what they could dump on the land or release into the water and air was considered downright un-American. Concern about the health consequences of ingesting those by-products of industry was definitely a left-wing issue, only discussed by hippies, revolutionaries, and other people who had no business talking about it.

“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”

Marshall McLuhan

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In the 1960s, there were no laws regulating pollution

It seems hard to believe now, but at the close of the 1960s, it was not illegal for U.S. corporations to spew poisonous black smoke from their factories, dump toxic sludge on soil, or release fish-killing effluent into streams and rivers. The Environmental Protection Agency didn’t exist, nor did the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, or the Endangered Species Act. What seems so morally reprehensible now was not only lawful but the norm in 1970.

The environmental contamination had become so extreme that newspapers of the day reported these disasters:

• Cleveland, Ohio: The Cuyahoga River was so polluted with oil and toxic chemicals that it burst into flames by spontaneous combustion. The flames reached 5 stories high.
• Gary Indiana and East Chicago: The same weekend that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, sulfur dioxide pollution emitted by industrial smokestacks created acid rain which burned lawns, ate through tree leaves and de-feathered birds.
• Santa Barbara, California: An oil well blowout just 5 miles off the coast dumped 235,000 gallons of oil into the ocean, resulting in tar loaded beaches for thirty miles.
• Erie, Pennsylvania: Lake Erie was declared “dead”. After decades of pollution from agricultural runoff and sewage treatment sludge, so much algae had grown in the lake that it choked off the oxygen, killing fish and other aquatic life. Anglers and tourists complained about the putrid smell.

Twenty-two million citizens forced change on a massive scale in what amounted to an environmental revolution. Now celebrated worldwide by over one billion people each year, Earth Day recognizes that tremendous achievement and serves as a reminder that we all must be conscientious stewards of our environment, if only in our own backyards.

Ways you can celebrate Earth Day this year:

• Support a charitable foundation that’s environmentally focused: Nature Conservancy’s Plant 1 Billion Trees Initiative; Earth Day Network; Sierra Club; Wilderness.org
• Read Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and Wendell Berry’s “Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food”
• Ditch the chemicals and switch to organic gardening and organic lawn care.
• Plant a tree in your backyard
• If you’re an educator, consider National Environmental Education Week, held every year the week before Earth Day. It’s intended to inspire stewardship and environmental learning among K-12 students.

Check your city’s websites for Earth Day events going on in your own backyard. Get involved and make a difference. Be a part of the largest celebration on the planet.